This week, Duke Energy Florida announced that it will terminate all plans to build its Levy Nuclear Project.
And as part of a deal with the Florida Public Service Commission, the company will instead invest $6 billion in solar energy, smart meters, and grid modernization as well as electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and a battery storage pilot program.
Duke’s move reflects global trends … [Read more...]

A U.S. district judge ruled late Wednesday night that a controversial anti-immigrant bill in Texas could not take effect on Friday, giving relief to millions of residents in a state still reeling from the ramifications of a devastating hurricane.
“There is overwhelming evidence by local officials, including local law enforcement, that SB 4 will erode public trust and make many communities … [Read more...]

In a Facebook post published Wednesday, Missouri Rep. Warren Love (R) expressed hope that the people responsible for vandalizing a Confederate monument in Springfield National Cemetery will be found and lynched.
“This is totally against the law,” Love wrote while sharing an article about how paint was thrown on a statute of Confederate Major General Sterling Price. “I hope they … [Read more...]

The Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas suffered two explosions late Wednesday night, after having lost power for days following Hurricane Harvey. The explosions sent black smoke into the air, and at least 10 deputies have gone to the hospital following the incident, citing complaints of headache and dizziness, according to Morning Joe.
All of the plant’s employees, as well as about 300 … [Read more...]

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has become the latest high-profile Democrat to embrace expanding Medicare coverage to all Americans, the freshman senator announced at a town hall in Oakland Wednesday night.
“I’ll break some news. I intend to co-sponsor the Medicare for All bill because it’s just the right thing to do,” Harris said Wednesday. It’s just the right thing to do… But it’s also about being … [Read more...]

On Thursday morning, President Trump tweeted that “[a]fter witnessing first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, my heart goes out even more so to the great people of Texas!”
After witnessing first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey,my heart goes out even more so to the great people of Texas!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) … [Read more...]

Nearly three decades after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, its shadow still falls on the West. Moscow is once again trying to subvert the international liberal order. The horrors that liberal, capitalist nations perpetrated in their last fight against Moscow continue to reverberate in unexpected ways. And with the rise of President Donald Trump and the buckling of the European Union, liberalism … [Read more...]

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was sworn into office only six months ago but is already attracting widespread scrutiny for alleged misuse of agency funds, potential violation of a lobbying law, and holding secret meetings with officials from the industries his agency is tasked with regulating.
Upon arrival at the agency, the new EPA administrator pledged a … [Read more...]

Special counsel Robert Mueller, Politico’s Josh Dawsey reports, “is working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on its investigation into [former Trump campaign chairman] Paul Manafort and his financial transactions, according to several people familiar with the matter.”
The partnership between Mueller and Schneiderman potentially shifts the balance of power between … [Read more...]

The Ohio Department of Insurance announced Thursday that CareSource will sell Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans in Paulding County, officially marking the end of the health law’s empty counties problem. Every person looking to buy coverage on the ACA marketplace in Ohio and nationwide will have at least one health insurance option.
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has been tracking the state … [Read more...]

Florida is scheduled to end its 19-month execution hiatus on Thursday when it will kill a man using an untested drug that experts say is likely to cause pain.
Mark James Asay, 53, will be the first person killed in Florida, a state with one of the highest uses of capital punishment, since the U.S. Supreme Court put the state’s death penalty on hold in January 2016. The anesthesia the … [Read more...]

A day after President Trump suggested during a rally in Arizona that he will pardon him, former Sheriff Joe Arpaio joined Trump’s favorite evening television show for an interview. During it, Arpaio unwittingly described how the rule is supposed to work while complaining about how he thinks he’s being treated unfairly for violating it.
Arpaio, a staunch Trump supporter who was recently … [Read more...]

The first major natural disaster of the Trump presidency could be making its way to Texas, with Tropical Storm Harvey threatening to bring winds up to 73 miles per hour and drop as much as 40 inches of rain in some parts of the Gulf. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has already declared a state of disaster for 30 Texas counties and ordered extra emergency preparedness throughout the rest of the state.
Looking … [Read more...]

The founder of the far-right “Proud Boys” has gone on the record disavowing the so-called “alt-right” – but the condemnation doesn’t mean much, since one of its own members was a main organizer for the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
Gavin McInnes, who founded the “pro-Western fraternal organization,” said that the “Alt-Right wants to start infiltrating our … [Read more...]

Donald Trump retweeted a meme from an account Thursday morning that has pushed conspiracy theories, advocated violence against protesters, and seems to believe white Americans are under attack for being white.
The retweet came in the midst of a tweetstorm ridden with basic grammar mistakes in which Trump attacked both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker Paul Ryan … [Read more...]

Appearing on Fox & Friends on Thursday morning, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway affirmed that President Trump is prepared to shut down the federal government unless Congress funds a border wall.
Asked by host Ainsley Earhardt if comments Trump made at his rally in Arizona on Tuesday night were meant to indicate he views funding the wall as a necessary condition of him signing any budget … [Read more...]

It’s late August, and state officials who work in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace in Nevada and Oregon say they still have not been contacted by their federal partners about open enrollment, which is slated to begin November 1. This is the latest testimony in a string of recent reports that suggest the president meant what he said when ACA repeal efforts in Congress failed last … [Read more...]

Spain received a warning in May that the Islamic State group was planning an attack in Barcelona but decided it lacked credibility, Catalan regional authorities said Thursday. The daily El … [Read More...]

A company that suffered an explosion at a chemical plant close to Houston has said it “fully expects” more fires - potentially as many as eight - as a result of flooding overwhelming the … [Read More...]

Mosques across the state of Texas are being turned into shelters for the victims of Hurricane Harvey. The Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH), which represents 21 Islamic centres in … [Read More...]

White House

Police in the northern Spanish city of Barcelona say a white van has jumped the sidewalk in the city’s historic Las Ramblas district, injuring several people. Police cordoned off the broad … [Read More...]

A white supremacist who helped organise the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has appeared on camera crying as he describes his fear of arrest. Chris Cantwell, a racist … [Read More...]

Supreme Court

New York MagazineFive Years Later, States That Rejected the Medicaid Expansion May Get Their RewardNew York Magazine... that Just Said No will be (relatively speaking) rewarded. We would not … [Read More...]

NewsweekPort of Seattle files US Supreme Court brief opposing travel banKent ReporterThe Port of Seattle has filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court, urging the court to … [Read More...]